I might be misremembering, but in my head the Reading game was one of those where we seemed quite badly depleted. If we had a decent team out then I'd definitely concede that they outplayed us. I remember Watford as being very similar to Bournemouth in that they were much more adept at taking their chances when they came along, but rightly or wrongly I recall feeling that we were very unfortunate to have lost.

True enough, but he did well at Birmingham when it was a madhouse and not particularly well resourced. No guarantees that he'll do similar at Forest of course, but personally I think the smart money will be them finishing mid-table then competing for the top six next season.

Completely with you on Mowbray. I'm one of those sad people who even looks at message boards for other clubs when they play Rovers, and it's amazing how often fans of other clubs have compared Mowbray favourably to their own manager. I disagree about overestimating Hughton though. I think we always deal with uncertainty when it comes to football managers - there's always the possibility that an otherwise good manager might not work out at a certain club at a certain time - but Hughton's record at this level is pretty much unblemished. It's probably too late for Forest to think about the top 6 even with a fantastic run, but I'm supremely confident that he'll get them safe and sound well before the season's close, and next season they'll be looking upwards.

That penny really dropped for me in the first half against Brentford. I'm not sure if they were playing within themselves a bit, but we went toe-to-toe in playing a high tempo attacking game and we outplayed them. Not saying that we definitely would have won without the sending off, but we've played plenty of the better teams now and I don't think that we've been outplayed by any of them when it was 11 vs 11. We've only really struggled either i) during a massive injury crisis or ii) against teams that are set up to frustrate us. The issue we have is turning good performances against good teams into the wins we deserve. Only getting 1 point from the performances at Brentford, Swansea, Watford and Bournemouth is ridiculous, although to a certain extent you credit them for being more clinical. I think Bristol City are probably the sort of team that will look to attack us but don't have the individual quality that some of the other teams at the top do, so I can see the game suiting us quite well. 1-3 Rovers

I'd personally have Trybull in there in front of Johnson. Should be fresher, and I'm pretty sure he won't be able to play against Norwich, so better off giving Johnson a rest and save him for the weekend. Other than that, I'd go with the same team.

Game of opinions, but I would be absolutely amazed if it turns out like that. Genuinely shocked. I can't agree that he's nowhere near ready either. He's only doing it in flashes at the moment, but when he gets it right he can already see passes which nobody else in the side can, perhaps Holtby at an absolute push. Even yesterday he showed some lovely touches with the ball at his feet. He's a bit lightweight and inconsistent, I'll grant you. Patience with this lad will be rewarded by the bucketload.

I did find myself wincing as I typed it! I'm certainly not his biggest fan (not sure any of us are) but I do think that he's improved steadily & is adequate back up at this level. Having said that he was really poor midweek, but I was pretty impressed by him today.

On Douglas, I could be wrong but are we certain that he's definitely injured? I know that he's obviously first choice, but given that we knew we'd be back against the wall in the second half bringing Bell on might've been tactical?

I think that's only true if it's considered a frivolous one. Not sure how they arrive at judgement, but if anyone can look at our case and call it frivolous then the game has gone!

Miracle point. So proud of the effort today

Big call. This is probably the game that on paper would have suited Williams the most since he's been injured. Toney's big and strong, but it's not really his physicality that should worry us. Out of the two we have available, Wharton is obviously the most mobile but he won't have been exposed to too many attacks like Brentford's before today. Plenty of managers would have gone with Ayala's experience, so let's see how it pans out.

To be fair, Middlesbrough have improved plenty since Colin has showed up there. Still well in the hunt for a top 6 place and it wouldn't shock me if they're competing for the automatics in the spring. Have to admit I'm surprised that Hughton hasn't had more of an obvious impact. He does seem to have tightened up their defence, but points haven't followed. Might be different once they get Grabban back.

Would be good to get both Dack and Travis ready to start the F.A. cup game. Any significant contribution before then is a bonus.

One of those players where you would not be confident of replacing even with a massive budget, so I wouldn't be happy selling him at any price, really. In terms of what we should be accepting, I agree that something like 25 million is what should be required to start a conversation. If we're still in the hunt come the end of January, I wouldn't even consider that.

I know that controversial or underperforming players attract more discussion than players who do the business consistently, but I'm amazed that we've reached a total of 16 pages on Arma in just over two years. By himself he's managed to at least equal the number of goals scored by a third of all the clubs in the league. He's scored double the number of goals of Derby County. Amazing given about 12 months ago there was a decent argument that he'd struggle to start as a number 9 with no strike partner.

Agree with that to a point, whilst we can look at the last two games and feel a bit lucky to have picked up 6 points, we weren't outplayed by any of the top sides we've come up against this season with the exception of Reading. Even so if we were taking a Hughes-like approach of targeting a certain number of points from the next few games, a return of 5-6 points would be very decent in keeping the optimism going. Norwich will be weakened with injuries, so three points there and 1 win/2 draws from the other games keeps us well in touch with the top.

For a boy of 12, Harvey Elliott is very good at football

With the possible exception of Armstrong, I think Mowbray will be looking to rotate our entire midfield and attack before the new year. Think having Rothwell on the bench for this one if anything recognises how much of a key player he's been for us this year, given our tough week coming up.

No Cooper for them - big loss

Last minute equaliser for Cov against Wayne Rooney's Derby.

Game is tailor made for Johnson and Ayala, although I wouldn't advocate dropping Wharton if he's made a complete recovery. Mowbray seems to be hinting that Douglas will probably be fit, but I'd be very comfortable playing Bell for this game. With the schedule coming up and a couple of little question marks over Douglas' ability to play so many games back to back, Bell's going to get into the team at some points during the season. Might as well play him now and give Douglas a few more days to recover.

Strangely - given how relentless our December is, there's a full week before and after the third round - two weeks between league fixtures like an international break. Obviously it's risky to make wholesale changes - but we should be able to give some of our over-flogged players a decent rest.

Boring draw, but a good one.

Apparently Jake Cooper played 15 minutes with a dislocated shoulder too. Would have thought he would miss out on Wednesday.

Think that's completely fair. I think he would have struggled to avoid criticism will be online. It might well be a minority and a bit echo-chambery, but the torrent of abuse and derision underperforming footballers get online is absolutely unreal. Doesn't make Rovers fans any different to any other club of our size, but I'd be surprised if it didn't affect him at times. Agree that on the whole, fans at Ewood have been very patient with him, and now that patience seems to be paying off.